A British Columbia judge has dismissed charges against five men arrested after a 14-month Ecstasy investigation because the RCMP had “run roughshod” over their rights.

Provincial court Judge Paul Meyers blasted the conduct of the investigating officers, saying they acted in bad faith and violated the Charter rights of “each and every accused.”

The scathing judgment, dated June 21 and posted online this week, came after more than two dozen hearings carried out over two years.

Tin Lik Ho, Qing Hou, Shao Wei Huang, Yi Feng Kevin Li and Kai Lai Kyle Zhou were charged with Ecstasy production and production for the purpose of trafficking after a January 2007 raid on three homes and one vehicle in Richmond, B.C. Police seized nearly 100 kg of Ecstasy and nine pill presses, an operation worth an estimated $10-million.

In listing the numerous Charterbreaches,JudgeMeyers wrote that “one might have thought that the investigation took place before the Charter of Rights had been enacted.”

Police read the accused their rights in English, neglecting to bring an interpreter despite acknowledging they suspected Mandarin or Cantonese would be the primary language of most, if not all, of the men and English “their (very distant) second language,” Judge Meyers wrote.

“The police basically just closed their eyes to this real, potential problem, by doing nothing in advance to plan for it.”

When police arrested Mr. Li and Mr. Zhou, the pair were forced to sit on the front lawn in the middle of winter for more than half an hour in only their underwear while waiting to be hosed down for decontamination.

Police also failed to show the search warrant to the accused in at least one of the arrests and failed to file two search warrant reports on time. Police claimed ignorance for filing one three weeks late and had no explanation for not filing one at all.

“‘Ignorance of the law’ is no excuse for a lay person and it certainly is not an excuse for a police officer,” Judge Meyers wrote.

The Mounties’ decision to break down the door of one of the houses was criticized as excessive and unnecessary, and police gave contradictory statements on whether they had actually planned the “dynamic entry.”

Judge Meyers concluded that “the repute of the administration of justice would be adversely affected” if he were to allow any of the evidence gathered during the raids to be admitted in the trial.

While acknowledging there is a strong interest in prosecut-ing those accused of drug trafficking, “society also has a very strong and vested interest in making sure that the police do not run roughshod over the cherished rights that we have proudly enshrined in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms Act,” Judge Meyers said.

Michael Le Dressey, the Crown prosecutor on the case, said he could not discuss it and the media contact for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada could not be reached for comment. The Richmond RCMP’s media officer was unavailable and the police did not have anyone else available to address the judge’s criticisms.

The B.C. RCMP’s conduct has been publicly scrutinized in a handful of high-profile cases over the past two years.

A 2009 report on the 2007 Taser death of Robert Dziekanski at a Vancouver airport slammed the four officers in the incident as well as the follow-up investigation, saying police were too willing to use their Tasers and the investigation was flawed. The Mounties involved will appear in court in August on charges of perjury stemming from their testimony at a public inquiry.

An inquiry report released last year on the 1985 Air India bombings blamed a “cascading series of errors” by the government, the RCMP and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) for the failure to prevent the bombing.

One of the men acquitted has launched a civil suit, claiming his Charter rights were violated in the prosecution and has named the RCMP as a defendant.

The RCMP has been criticized by federal prosecutors for the investigation of the human smuggling ship MV Ocean Lady that landed in B.C. two years ago. Prosecutors said the RCMP was rushed and sloppy in the interview process and their handling of seized documents and evidence.

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